ALP must change or be changed: Crean

Veteran Labor Minister
Simon Crean
, who was dumped as Labor leader by factional leaders nine years ago, says the party’s factional chiefs should adopt internal reforms including an independent disputes tribunal, or face having change imposed on them.

Mr Crean successfully weakened union control over the ALP at party conference in 2002 while party leader – a move that later contributed to his ousting as leader in late 2003.

This week he has thrown his weight behind Labor elder statesman
John Faulkner
’s call for reform of Labor’s power structure.

Mr Crean, now Regional Australia and Arts Minister, told The Australian Financial Review there had been “no serious effort" to reform the party since 2002 and criticised Labor’s factional system as increasingly discredited in the eyes of voters.

“We have heard all the words before. There needs to be a serious internal assessment, no more inquiries, we have had enough. We have a framework going back to 2002, let’s implement that and build on it.

“The factional leadership needs to understand that the model is discredited and it needs fixing – and if doesn’t attend to fixing it, it will have reform imposed."

“If they fail to have the structures in place to ensure the integrity of that, it will be taken out of their hands."

Mr Crean endorsed Senator Faulkner’s call for a full rank-and-file vote for the preselection of senators and Upper House state MPs and a charter of members’ rights.

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He argued that an independent disputes tribunal would obviate the need for ALP members to be given the right to go to the courts for dispute resolutions.

Referring to the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption inquiry concerning some present and former state Labor MPs, Mr Crean said that Labor “wants people selected and elected to Parliament who advance the public’s interests; public policy not private gain".

He attacked the culture in Labor that had seen leaders destabilised by the use of internal party polling. “This is not just about unions and factions, it’s also about things like internal polling being used to undermine party leaders."

Mr Crean rejected suggestions his comments would increase pressure on Prime Minister
Julia Gillard
to intervene in Labor’s internal party structures to ensure reforms were implemented. “It’s hard for the Prime Minister to act on this unless there is a will in the party."

“It’s up to the leadership of the party as distinct from the leadership of the government to grasp the opportunity and do something," he said.

“This is the responsibility of all of us who hold the future of the party as important. We have to have a solid base built on integrity and transparency."

Mr Crean was removed as party leader in November 2003 after being tapped on the shoulder by factional leaders and told to stand aside. But he later faced down a preselection challenge ahead of the 2007 election orchestrated, in part, by his now cabinet colleague Senator Stephen Conroy.

This week senior NSW state Labor Right MPs have pushed against calls for the pace of party reform to be accelerated, arguing the party is already undertaking the hard work needed to revive its electoral fortunes.

They have also refused to endorse a push by the Left faction to apologise for the preselection of former power broker Eddie Obeid, who has been the subject of corruption allegations at the ICAC hearings, a day after the Left apologised for the preselection of disgraced former minister Ian Macdonald.

Senator Faulkner suggested on Thursday that the Right faction should apologise, arguing that to do so would be a show of strength.

He said it was time to address the weaknesses in the NSW ALP’s rules that had vested power in the hands factional and sub-factional interests, no matter how difficult implementing change may be.

“I think this sort of acknowledgement is an appropriate way for us to proceed in these circumstances. There is a strength in saying you make a mistake, you’ve got something wrong and I’m very pleased that the Left faction agreed with the proposal I made, agreed with it unanimously,’’ he told ABC Radio. “I think there is a strength in admitting when you make a mistake."

But NSW State MP Noreen Hay, who convenes the state parliamentary Right and is a member of the dominant Terrigals sub-faction, would not endorse the suggestion the party should apologise for Mr Obeid.

“I think that’s a question for the NSW general secretary (Sam Dastyari),’’ she said.

“NSW has been undertaking some significant reforms of late which I support and they are supported in bipartisan way in the party. Those changes are taking place and no doubt they will continue to take place."

And fellow NSW State MP Richard Amery, a member of the minority Right so-called trog sub-faction, said it was not up to the Right to apologise for Mr Obeid.

“I don’t think the Right as a whole entity can take responsibility for Eddie Obeid, nor can the Left take full responsible for Ian Macdonald as he got where he was with the support of key members of the right,’’ Mr Amery said.

He said the NSW branch of the ALP – which faction leaders from other states have distanced themselves from – had already begun the reform process.

“I think John [Faulkner’s] heart is in the right place, he is calling for reform of how we operate and I don’t think anyone would disagree with that. A lot of MPs in NSW are just surprised by the enormity of the dollars figures and the actions that are being played out in the ICAC,’’ Mr Amery said.

But he rejected Senator Faulkner’s call earlier this week for party disputes to be ultimately be subject to adjudication by the courts.

“If ever a situation was going to be undemocratic, it would be that. The only people with the resources to go to court would be people backed by trade unions or people who are independently wealthy. That would be so counter-productive. I cannot understand that line of thought. If you want to open the party up to more membership, that would be a retrograde step,’’ Mr Amery said.

Senior figures in Victoria and Queensland have distanced themselves from the problems of the troubled NSW division and urged the state to tackle perceptions of out-of-control factionalism, but offered only lukewarm support for reform of the factional system.

But writing for AFR.com today, Victorian senator and former national Right convenor David Feeney says the might of ALP factions is a “myth".